Politics
Ashley Whittaker: Whatever happens with Amendment 3, Florida’s parks need a plan
At a September town hall, Largo’s City Manager laid out what the city would have to do if Amendment 3 passes: cut about $15.7 million a year from its budget once the larger exemption takes full effect.
Property taxes, he said, supply roughly 60% of Largo’s general fund, which pays for police, fire rescue, the library, and parks and recreation.
By the city’s own math, closing the library and every parks and recreation center would save a little over $10 million. That would still leave millions more to find.
I’m not writing to tell anyone how to vote. I’m writing because Largo’s math points to something park and recreation leaders across Florida already understand. When a major source of local revenue is constrained, communities eventually have to rethink how they fund and operate parks and recreation. Those that start early have far more options than those that wait for the budget to force the decision.
Start with the scale.
State economists estimate Amendment 3 would reduce non-school local property tax revenue by about $4.9 billion in the first year, growing to nearly $11.8 billion by 2031. That is roughly $45.8 billion over five years, and the amendment doesn’t include dedicated state funding to replace it. Its ballot language directs property tax dollars to public safety, education and schools, infrastructure, natural resources, and other priorities. Parks and recreation isn’t named.
Parks were already exposed. According to the National Recreation and Park Association’s (NRPA) latest benchmarking, the average agency gets 63% of its operating funds from general fund tax support and about 18% from earned revenue. That puts parks at the same budget table as police, fire, streets and infrastructure, and voters rightly put public safety first. That isn’t a knock on parks. It is simply the table they sit at.
So what happens when a community doesn’t have a plan? Colorado Springs is a useful example. In 2007, the city spent $19.6 million on parks. By 2010, that was down to $3.1 million. Officials cut watering so deeply that they warned most parks would have brown turf by July. Recreation centers and pools were slated to close unless someone found private money to keep them open.
Across-the-board cuts feel fair, but a tournament complex, an aquatic center and a neighborhood park have completely different economics. The city has spent years rebuilding since. In 2023, voters renewed its dedicated parks, trails and open space sales tax, which brings in about $12 million a year. Voters will fund parks when the ask is specific, dedicated and accountable.
Cutting maintenance to balance a budget doesn’t solve the problem either. It defers it. In NRPA’s 2023 review, agencies reported an average of $16.5 million in deferred maintenance projects on their books. Deferred maintenance isn’t savings. It’s debt at a worse interest rate.
Here is what preparing early for downward budget pressure looks like.
Preparing early doesn’t require an outsourced playbook. It requires a few uncomfortable questions, and they are far easier to answer in October than in the middle of a budget hearing.
Start with what each facility really costs. Most agencies know the department’s total spend. Far fewer know what the aquatic center loses per swimmer, or what the tournament complex clears on a good weekend. Without that, every cut looks the same, and every cut is made blind. Some facilities can carry more of their own weight.
Others, like the neighborhood park and the senior center, are core services that will always need public support, and no one should apologize for that. The job is knowing which is which before someone else decides for you.
Then there is revenue, which parks have been shy about. Park teams are strong operators, but they rarely had to build the muscle to earn money. The typical agency covers only about a quarter of its operating costs from non-tax revenue.
A cafe at the rec center, a sponsor on the ballfield, a full rental calendar: none of it replaces a tax base, but it can be the difference between closing a pool and keeping it open.
Costs deserve the same scrutiny before anyone touches services. Staffing is roughly 54% of the average agency’s operating budget, according to NRPA’s 2026 review, so discipline matters most here: scheduling built around real demand, hiring that doesn’t take months, and planned purchasing and maintenance instead of reactive.
If those questions come after the pool closes, they come in the wrong order.
Finally, some leaders will want to avoid this question: whether someone else should run certain facilities. I’ll be direct about my stake. My firm manages public venues, so weigh my view accordingly.
Third-party management isn’t right for every asset, and it never replaces public ownership. The community still owns the facility and sets the rules on access, affordability and price.
But for specialized, program-heavy venues like aquatics, ice, golf and sports complexes, it is an option worth putting on the table, with clear goals and performance measures reviewed in public. Better to weigh it on a calm Tuesday than during a deficit.
All of this should come back to outcomes. Parks are where kids get their first chance to play and where families spend time together. They are also an economic engine. NRPA estimates local park and recreation agencies in Florida generated $15.2 billion in economic activity and supported more than 82,000 jobs in 2021.
Define what success looks like for your community, from access to affordability to quality of life, and track it as closely as you track the budget.
My colleague Mike Kelly, who once ran the Chicago Park District, likes to say, “If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.” The best time to show up with a plan is before the budget is on the table.
Voters will decide Amendment 3 on Nov. 3. Whatever they decide, the question of how to make parks less dependent on tax subsidies and more financially resilient won’t go away. The communities that answer it early will have choices.
Those that wait will face deadlines.
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Ashley Whittaker is a partner at The Sports Facilities Companies, which supports more than 140 communities across the country.
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